Slingshot Team. 1 of 18 made for the 1992 race season. It had full Suntour XC Pro drive train (which I disliked.)
The most important thing left being the frame. They take up less space in the apt. this way...

Titanium Slingshot

Does anyone know where to find (or has seen in person) a Titanium Slingshot?
I'd take a half or full Ti...I know they were made for a short while c. 93/94....I'd love to own one. Any leads or info would be great.

Nice Slingshots Rumpfy

I've never ridden one, but a local wrench has one that he converted to road to beat up on the local roadies with. I personally think it's a waste, but definitely a unique bike. I've always wanted to ride one though.

I've never ridden one, but a local wrench has one that he converted to road to beat up on the local roadies with. I personally think it's a waste, but definitely a unique bike. I've always wanted to ride one though.

An MTB frame he converted to road? Hmm...
So, uh...do you think he'd be willing to sell it?

I know this bike and it's keeper. It is set up as a tri bike and has tri geometry. 650c Slingshot Road. Sorry to burst the bubble!

You know my friend that lives in the same town as me?? Are you sure? What shop does he work at? Tell me his name if you do know. I know that he told me it was an MTB. I was really good friends with one of his old roommates quite a few years ago...it was definitely an MTB that was used on the dirt then. Enlighten me.

Slingshot Team. 1 of 18 made for the 1992 race season. It had full Suntour XC Pro drive train (which I disliked.)

Just curious, what didn't you like about the XC Pro drivetrain? I've only ridden the old Suntour road stuff, Superbe Pro II. Far as I'm concerned, that was top-of-the-line stuff compared to anything else on the market at the time for roadie gear.

Slings Hot

Had a spare moment to do a bit in the overhead today and got a picture of my 17" 89' Shot. The paintjob is a custom "Nuclear Lizard" done by Grove Innovations when the bike was new. When I put it back it in the upper storage which is about 1/2 dark after having it out for only a bit it was glowing like crazy!

There is a unicrown fork and Flex Stem in the stash that are painted to match but apparently in its last incarnation it was sporting the IRD suspension fork. I think my older son was the last to ride this bike about 5 or 6 years ago....

This is a shot of the back of a T Shirt that the Groendahls had made up to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Sling Shot back in 93'.

And here is the front which give a nice little pictorial history of the development of the frame up to the age of the ones pictured above.

The first Sling Shot was a BMX bike actually. PeeWee Groendahl broke the frame on his BMXer and Mark his older brother grafted a piece of Hexcel ski to the break to fix it and the rest as they say is history! The one labled 83' in the T-shirt was wheeled through the aisles of the Atlantic City version of Interbike in that year.

Last edited by Bigwheel; 01-24-2004 at 02:05 PM.
Reason: needed to lighten up one of the pix..

Just curious, what didn't you like about the XC Pro drivetrain? I've only ridden the old Suntour road stuff, Superbe Pro II. Far as I'm concerned, that was top-of-the-line stuff compared to anything else on the market at the time for roadie gear.

Well, for the most part it was good. Good feel, light weight (for it's age), grease guard stuff worked well.
But...unless your drive train was in perfect tune, I felt that I ended up with a lot of ghost shifting. It was a bit tempermental to dial in and didn't allow for a gread deal of slop.
I know some people are anti-Shimano, but I almost never have any problems with any of it. Parts are easy to find, a lot of it is compatable. Even the 'floating' der. pullies allow for your drive train to be off a bit and still shift through the gears. You know....because we ride our vintage rigs so hard and all...

Had a spare moment to do a bit in the overhead today and got a picture of my 17" 89' Shot. The paintjob is a custom "Nuclear Lizard" done by Grove Innovations when the bike was new. When I put it back it in the upper storage which is a....
one labled 83' in the T-shirt was wheeled through the aisles of the Atlantic City version of Interbike in that year.

Shot Shots

The link to these pics are in another thread but thought it worthwhile to post it here in the "Official" thread.

This is a bike that was made for a female client. It is pretty amazing that for one thing you had a bike painted pink but that you could also get pink toe clips, bottle cage, hand grips and lever covers and spoke covers to match in those days! It was an 89 model year and was the inspiration for the bike frame pictured above that I built up for my wife a little while after.

This frame was an 87/88' as it had the spring in the top tube. This bike ended up in the hands of a hot junior racer and he did rather well on it.

Wanted: older Slingshot info

We have been trying to put together some info for our web site about the older Slingshots. If anyone has any literature that they would sell, loan or copy please let me know. We would also like to find an example of the earlier frame styles for the "museum". Thanksjeff@firstflightbikes.comwww.firstflightbikes.com

my slingshot

here's mine. dated at 1993. its now a single speed. silver paint , need new paint. i will have full pics this week. i had gene at spicercycles weld on disc tabs and fabricate 1" threadless fork with disc tab. i still have the kinesis alu fork.

here's mine. dated at 1993. its now a single speed. silver paint , need new paint. i will have full pics this week. i had gene at spicercycles weld on disc tabs and fabricate 1" threadless fork with disc tab. i still have the kinesis alu fork
thanks all

dirt diggler

Genius. I so wanted to do the same with my 93.
Let us know how it works out after the build!

hey eric,
good to see that there are true slingshot riders out there. i love this bike. i have alot of newer bikes but i can't seem to hang this up on the rafters. have you had the scotchplate rplaced yet ? i contacted the newer slingshot owners and they quoted me at 6bills to do it.
my bike is rideable and new life with disc brakes. the whole disc with new rigi fork was 107.00. gene at spicer did a great job in my concern of the heat when welding to not heat up the epoxy and melt the plate.

btw if this is still available, local shop her in cleveland century cycles 1-440-519-0013 (solon store) has a great condition slingshot 650c road frame with fork and ac seatpost for around 250bills.

Ya, I heard that story too about riding around on a broken frame and liking the feel of flex it had. The only difference is I thought it was a motorized mini bike..... But its been a long time. Im sure the story gets slightly altered each time its told. Ive always wanted to try one out, supposedly if you could pedal to match the rithym of the frame you could really move.

hey eric,
good to see that there are true slingshot riders out there. i love this bike. i have alot of newer bikes but i can't seem to hang this up on the rafters. have you had the scotchplate rplaced yet ? i contacted the newer slingshot owners and they quoted me at 6bills to do it.
my bike is rideable and new life with disc brakes. the whole disc with new rigi fork was 107.00. gene at spicer did a great job in my concern of the heat when welding to not heat up the epoxy and melt the plate.

btw if this is still available, local shop her in cleveland century cycles 1-440-519-0013 (solon store) has a great condition slingshot 650c road frame with fork and ac seatpost for around 250bills.

thanks
dirt diggler

Yeah, I'm a hardcore Sling fan. I've owned 5 or 6. Bought and sold for various reasons...
$250 is a good deal. It's about what I paid from the one I bought from DeeEight.
I happen to be anti-road though...

As for the board replacement, $600 is not what they have quoted on their website.
I don't think they make it all the easy to find...but it's in print.
Check this link:http://www.slingshotbikes.com/service_center/faqs.cfm
(Q) - How much does it cost for a board replacement?
(A) - A complete re-fab with new board and paint is $300.
I have not had the service done. Before the new ownership they charged $250/$300 for board replacement and a respray.

The nice thing about the new frames are the 1 1/8" headtubes and factory disc mounts I've seen popping up on some of the bikes....

sorry,
its 600 hundred for board and paint. 400 for board replacement because of the older board type. from what was replied the older board would have to be machined and bonded. reset the jig to accomodate the the older frame. quote from Mark Watt.

Speaking of the Trials bike:

I watched Bob Lawson win the nationals on the other slingshot trials bike mentioned. My brother roomed with him in college, and he rode a similar frame (different h-bar) to the national championship in Bellaire MI in the late 90's. His was setup with what they called a 'dog bone' shaft over the cable, not quite sure what the theory is behind it, maybe to help with the lateral stiffness during trials manuevers? He had a set of one off v-brake style brakes before v-brakes were common, used a lot of tar on the rims, and could ride the **** out of that thing. I remember being amazed.

I had a slingshot converted to a SS in the late 90's as well, it was a great singlespeed. I wish that I had enough money to keep all the pimp bikes I used to own, unfortunately, usually my arguments for new bikes are sealed with a promise to thin the herd before new ones are added.

Whuttheheck? I jumped thru all the hoops, uploaded the image to the site but can't get it in the post Oh well it was a crummy shot anyhoo. If you really want to see it it's that red 16" job that was posted in the classifieds most recently.
So as a new convert to the "disciples of flex" I have a Question or two about the care and feeding of my new Slingshot. The issue of replacement of the scotchply thingy, is that a wear and tear/fatigue or an age issue? What sort of symptoms should I be on the lookout for? Any other common problems to watch for, particular places these frames might break etc.?

Whuttheheck? I jumped thru all the hoops, uploaded the image to the site but can't get it in the post Oh well it was a crummy shot anyhoo. If you really want to see it it's that red 16" job that was posted in the classifieds most recently.
So as a new convert to the "disciples of flex" I have a Question or two about the care and feeding of my new Slingshot. The issue of replacement of the scotchply thingy, is that a wear and tear/fatigue or an age issue? What sort of symptoms should I be on the lookout for? Any other common problems to watch for, particular places these frames might break etc.?

I've yet to have a problem with either of my Slingshots (both the 92 and 93). They are still on their original board and coil. The Sling frames are somewhat 'overbuilt' to make up for the lack of downtube and all the general flexieness that's going on. People always ask if it's a light bike because of the missing DT...the frames are 5lbs. That doesn't make them the lightest steel hardtails, but everything is pretty reinforced. A pretty strong frame IMO. I've heard stories of other people snapping the coil/cable. Usually heavier riders or riders hard on their equipment (of which I'm neither). I've also not noticed an increase in flex due to age or ware....everything seems normal. I'm not sure if fatigue will be an issue for that board. You could always ask Slingshot customer service...they'll have a more intelligent answer than I will.

As for replacement..they do it. It's on their FAQ's page on their website...11 down:
(Q) - How much does it cost for a board replacement?
(A) - A complete re-fab with new board and paint is $300.

my contribution to the small slingshot world

I built up this Sling a couple of weeks ago just to test it out how the frames worked.

I figured the fastest climbing bike would make a good single speed as long as it had a stiff enough BB to hadle the extreme forces of single speed riding. Well, after the first ride I brought it back home and tossed my nicer parts on it because I was hooked. now I ride it more than any of my other bikes combined.

It has a stiffer bottom bracket than my first Bianchi road bike, completely stable with no hands on the bars, does wheelies, climbs like a goat, descends good (for a rigid), and has just enough geek factor.

it would'nt really take new paint to replace that board..... would it?

Not really. They used to offer the service separate. Board/bolt replacement for about $150, or the board/bolt/repaint combo for $250 or so. Now it's all or nothing....but I suppose they'd do just the replacement and not repaint, but I'm not sure you could talk them into discounting the work if no paint job is done.

I'm assuming you don't want to undo the lavender paint and vintage decals on yours...

I built up this Sling a couple of weeks ago just to test it out how the frames worked.

I figured the fastest climbing bike would make a good single speed as long as it had a stiff enough BB to hadle the extreme forces of single speed riding. Well, after the first ride I brought it back home and tossed my nicer parts on it because I was hooked. now I ride it more than any of my other bikes combined.

It has a stiffer bottom bracket than my first Bianchi road bike, completely stable with no hands on the bars, does wheelies, climbs like a goat, descends good (for a rigid), and has just enough geek factor.